Connecter for brushes, mops and the like



Dec. 29; 1931. M. REDLINGER CONNECTER FOR BRUSHES, MOPS, AND THE LIKEFiled July 11, 1929 6 VII Patented Dec. 29, 1931 UNITED STATES MATTHIASREDLINGER, OF FREEPORT, ILLINOIS CONNECTERFOR nwsnns, Mops AND THE LIKEApplication filed July 11, 1529. Serial No. 377,363.

My invention relates to mop and brush connecters adapted to support acleaning tool upon a handle and is directed more particularly to thetype commonly employed for supporting mops, brushes, brooms and thelike, upon handles. a

It has been customary in the past to provide each mop and brush employedin the home with a separate handle. In thecase of mops and brushes whichusually employ long handles the storageof a number of implements usedfor diiferen't purposes becomes a problem. This is particularly true inmore recent times when the increase of apartments has brought aboutsmaller living quarters. The tools themselves usually occupy but littlespace but the long handles customarily attached thereto serve to form anunwieldy article requiring considerable storage space. I have therefore,aimed to provide an improved connecter for attaching cleaning tools suchas mops, brushes and the like to handles wherein the brushes and mopscustomarily employed may be interchangeably held. r

Another object of my invention is the provision of a connecter whereinthe cleaning tools are pivotally held to permit moderate no movementthereof upon the handle during use.

A still further object of the-invention is the provision of a connecterwhich may be manufactured at a relatively low cost including a connectermember attached to the handle having a socket therein to receive abearing member attached to the cleaning tool and a latching member topivotally support the bearing member in the socket.

Another object is the provision of im- 4 proved attaching means adaptedto be secured to the frame of a brush or mop.

Other objects and attendant advantages will become apparent from thefollowing de- 'scription and the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a top view of the connecter showing in outline a brushattached thereto; Fig. 2 is a sideview of the connecter showing the openposition in dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is a top view of'the'bearing member showing the ends of the brushframe in dotted lines; r

Fig. 4: is a section on the line 45-4: of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a section onthe line 5-5 of Fig. 1; and I i v r 5 FFig'. 6 is asection on the line66 of 1g. I Referring particularlyto Figs. 1, 2 and 4, the c'onnecterconsists generally in a connecter member, a bearing member and alatching member designated generally by 8, 9, and 10 respectively.Thelmember 8 is provided at its upper end with a sleeve-like portion 11'which is arranged to fit closely over and engage a suitable hand1e 12 ofany as desired length. The sleeveis maintained in a fixed position onthe handle by means of screws or nails 13 which pass through openings inthe sleeve and extend well into the handle. The handle should extend far7 enough into the sleeve to provide a substan tial bearing against thewalls thereof and provide a serviceableunion. I

The lower end of the member is formed to a supporting portion, havingaslight enlargement-l l if desired. The enlargement is provided in orderto permit the bearing member, presently to be described a greater degreeof movement. Extending downward from the enlargement 14 the supportingportiontends to assume a wedge shape, the top 15and bottom 16 beingflattened out'and brought into converging relation, and the sides 17 and18 into more or" less parallel relation as shown. The converging ends ofthe top 15 and bottom 16 are not brought completely in contact, anopening 19 being left therebetween to cooperate with semicircularopenings orbearing edges 20 in the side portions 17 and 18 in forming asocket to pivotallyreceive the bearing member.

The bearing member, shown in detail in Fig. 3, includes a cylindricalportion 21 adapted to be connected to a mop frame and having aprojection extending therefrom.

In the embodiment shown-a rearward projection 22 is provided havingcylindrical portions 23 and24 adapted to receive the ends 25 of the'twisted'wire framej26. It will be apparent that the ends of the frameenter the cylindrical portion 21 at each end and pass through rightangles into the cylindrical portions 23 and 24, this arrangement servingto connect the ends of the frame and at the same time form a bearing forthe frame in the opening 19. The projection 22 passes within thesupporting portion, the semi-circular front edges of the sides 17 and 18bearing against the end portions 26 and 27 of the bearing member. Itwill be seen that the portion 21 thus has a bearing against the innersides of the top and bottom mem bers 16 and 17, permitting the bearingmember to rotate with the cleaning implement attached thereto betweenthe positions shown in Fig. 4. The movement thereof is limited by theprojection 22 coming in contact with the inner side of the portions 15and 16. r

The bearing member is maintained in the socket formed by thesemi-circular openings and the opening 19 by a latch 10 having lip 28positioned across the opening 19 below the bearing member 9. The lipbears against the cylindrical portion 21 to hold it within its socket,and is pivotally supported at either side of the connecter member bymeans of rivets 29 passing through ears 30 and 31 and the side portions17 and 18 as shown in Fig. 2. A lever 82 attached to ear 30 extendsupward along the connecter memher and is provided with a finger ledge 33and a button 34. adapted to engage an opening 35 in the sleeve 11 tomaintain the lever in its upper position.

The operation of the connecter will be seen to be exceedingly simple andrapid. When the lever is moved to the dotted line position of Fig. 2,the lip 28 will be raised permitting the bearing member 9 to bewithdrawn or inserted as the case may be. In the full line position thelever is prevented from movement by spring engagement of the button 34with the opening 85 whereby the lip is held over the opening 19retaining the bearing member in the socket but permitting a certaindegree of movement thereof, depending upon the angle of the sides 15 and16.

While I have shown the invention in connection with a brush 36 having awire frame 26, it will be obvious that brushes, brooms, mops or otherkinds of implements having a wide variety of frames may be usedtherewith with equal facility.

It will be evident that I have provided an improved mop and brushconnecter. It may be cheaply manufactured and provides a means wherebythe mop or brush may be easily and quickly replaced upon the handle.Thus a plurality of mops and brushes may be provided for use with asingle handle, eliminating the plurality of handles usually required.

While I have thus described and illustrated av specific embodiment of myinvention, I am aware that numerous changes and alterations may be madetherein without departing from the spirit of the invention and I do notwish to be limited except as required by the prior art and the scope ofthe appended claims in which I claim:

1. A connecter for interchangeably supporting mop, brush or the likehaving a frame, on a handle comprising a sleeve portion adapted to fitover the handle, having flattened top and bottom portions converging toform substantially parallel end edges, substantially parallel sideportions provided with U-shaped slots at the end thereof, said slots andparallel end portions cooperating to form a socket, a bearing memberattached to said frame adapted to be pivotally held in said sockethaving a projection thereon arranged to act as a stop against saidflattened portions to limit the movement of said bearing member, and alatching member pivotally supported on said parallel sides to permitmovement between a closed and an open position to engage said bearingmember in or disengage it from said socket.

2. A connecter for interchangeably supporting a mop, brush. or the likehaving a frame, on a handle comprising a sleeve portion adapted to beconnected to thehandle having flattened converging top and bottomportions the ends thereof forming substantially parallel edges, sideportions having slots cooperating with said parallel edges to form asocket, a bearing member attached to said frame and adapted to seat insaid socket, and releasable means for holding said bearing in saidsocket.

3. A cleaning implement of the character described adapted tointerchangeably support any one of a plurality of cleaning toolscomprising a. handle, a frame for carrying a mop, brush or the like, aconnecter for supporting the frame on the handle comprising a sleeveportion attached at one end to the handle, the opposite end thereofbeing provided with an open end to form a socket, a bearing memberattached to said frame having a portion arranged to pivotally seat insaid socket in transverse relation to said sleeve portion to permit backand forth movement of said frame, and means for releasably holding saidbearing member within said socket.

4. A connecter for interchangeably supporting a mop, brush or the like,having a frame on a handle, comprising a sleeve portion attached at oneend to the handle, the opposite end thereof being provided with asocket, a bearing member attached to said frame having a portionarranged to pivotally seat in said socket in transverse relation to saidsleeve portion to permit back and forth movement, a latch pivotallysupported on said sleeve having a lip pivotally supported near each endof said socket arranged to occupy a position below said socket to retainsaid bearing member therein or a retracted position to release saidbearing member and a lever secured thereto having spring engagement withsaid connecter for actuating said latch.

5 A connecter for supporting a mop, brush or the like having a frame, onahandle, comprising a sleeve portion attached at one end to the handle,the opposite end thereof being provided with a socket having two sidesproviding substantially parallel edges and two sides provided withsemi-circular bearing edges, a bearing member adapted to clamp the endsof said frame and pivotally seat in said socket to move back and forthbetween I limiting positions, a latch pivotally attached to said sleevehaving a lip adapted to occupy a closed position over said socket toretain said bearing member therein or an open position to release saidbearing member, and a finger operated lever adapted to move said latchabout its pivotal mounting to shift said lip from position to position,and spring means for maintaining said lip in the closed position.

ing transversely to the axis of said sleeve I socket whereby a cleaningtool may be rotatably positioned in the socket thus formed, and meansfor holding the cleaning tool within said socket.

In witness of the foregoing I afiix my signature.

MATTHIAS REDLINGER.

6. In a cleaning implement, having a frame and a connecter, a bearingmember interposed between said frame and said connecter, comprising acylindrical portion having alateral projection intermediate the endsthereof, said frame entering said cylindrical portion and extending intosaid lateral projection.

7. In a cleaning implement, a connecter, having oppositely spacedsemi-circular bearing edges, a cleaning tool having a frame and abearing member upon said frame for connecting said frame to saidconnecter, compris ing cylindrical end portions and a lateral projectiontherebetween, said end portions being rotatably receivable in saidsemi-circular bearing edges, and means on said connecter for maintainingsaid ends within said bearing edges.

8. A connecter for supporting a mop,

brush, or the like having a frame on a bandle comprising, a sleeveportion adapted to fit over the handle, having top and bottom portionsforming substantially parallel upper and lower end edges, side portionsprovided with oppositely spaced U-shaped slots connecting said upper andlower end edges to "form a socket, a bearing member attached to saidframe adapted to be pivotallyheld in said socket, and a latch memberhaving a lip adapted to close the space between said upper i and loweredges to pivotally secure said hearing member therein, or be moved to aposition to release said bearing member therefrom.

9. In a cleaning implement, a one-piece sleeve portion adapted to besecured to a bandle, one end of said sleeve portion having substantiallyparallel opposed end edges extend-

